Some of my meat chickens ate polyisocyanurate foam insulation - are the chickens still edible?

[Dana_2022]

Some of my meat chickens ate polyisocyanurate foam insulation (Polyiso Insulation). I had stored some boards of insulation in the barn where I keep my chickens, and didn't notice they were eating away at it until about a week ago when I realized what was happening, and promptly hid it from them. It seems they were eating it sometime between one-five weeks ago, but I do not know exactly when they ate it. I am not sure which birds ate it and exactly how much they ate. It doesn't seem they ate too much, since they do not seem sick; they did not throw up, they are not bloated, they are not off their feed, they are not anemic, their eyes and feathers are still bright and shiny, and they seem as healthy as ever. However, there was a bit of an issue a few weeks ago with runny, deep orange colored droppings. I discounted it as a brief bout of coccidiosis due to the wet weather, but I am now wondering if it was related to eating the insulation.

They are meat birds and are ready to be slaughtered, but considering they have recently eaten insulation, the question is, are they still edible? Wouldn't this substance get ingested, go into their blood, and end up their tissue? If so, they might be toxic for human consumption, since it wouldn't be any different than a human eating insulation, which if that happened, it would mean a trip to the hospital.

My other thought is if it is possible to give the chickens a detox, with maybe bentonite clay and herbs? Or should I just cut my losses, cull them all, dig a hole in the garden, and use them as fertilizer?

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Some of my meat chickens ate polyisocyanurate foam insulation (Polyiso Insulation). I had stored some boards of insulation in the barn where I keep my chickens, and didn't notice they were eating away at it until about a week ago when I realized what was happening, and promptly hid it from them. It seems they were eating it sometime between one-five weeks ago, but I do not know exactly when they ate it. I am not sure which birds ate it and exactly how much they ate. It doesn't seem they ate too much, since they do not seem sick; they did not throw up, they are not bloated, they are not off their feed, they are not anemic, their eyes and feathers are still bright and shiny, and they seem as healthy as ever. However, there was a bit of an issue a few weeks ago with runny, deep orange colored droppings. I discounted it as a brief bout of coccidiosis due to the wet weather, but I am now wondering if it was related to eating the insulation.

They are meat birds and are ready to be slaughtered, but considering they have recently eaten insulation, the question is, are they still edible? Wouldn't this substance get ingested, go into their blood, and end up their tissue? If so, they might be toxic for human consumption, since it wouldn't be any different than a human eating insulation, which if that happened, it would mean a trip to the hospital.

My other thought is if it is possible to give the chickens a detox, with maybe bentonite clay and herbs? Or should I just cut my losses, cull them all, dig a hole in the garden, and use them as fertilizer?

In all likelihood, the polyisocyanurate passed thru them undigested. While it will disolve in concentrated sulpheric acid, our chicken's digestive systems aren't nearly that acidic. Assuming you find no gross anatatomical issues internally in the liver, etc upon butchering, I'd eat them.

 

[DobieLover]

Polyiso likely would have just passed through the system undigested. I wouldn't worry about it.